Reduction of crosstalk in a photonic space division switching network employing traveling wave amplifiers and automatic power control

Because of optical loss variations through different connection paths in LiNbO/sub 3/ switch matrices, optical crosstalk in a photonic space division switching network will be enhanced. This work theoretically investigates the power penalty due to optical crosstalk in a 128 line photonic space division switching network which employs loss compensating semiconductor amplifiers, and experimentally confirms the suppression of power penalty by employing an automatic power control (APC) scheme. Experiments have shown the successful operation of an APC system in keeping a constant optical power level throughout the system and the negligible power penalty values obtained agree with a calculated model.<>